GETTING AHEAD OF CRISES: A THESAURUS FOR …

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GETTING AHEAD OF CRISES: A THESAURUS FOR ANTICIPATORY HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Author: Sara de Wit June 2019

2 Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper, written by Sara de Wit, is the fruit of a collaborative search for a better understanding of language. At its heart are the insights of many interviewees who so generously gave up their time. The author's thanks go to Iliana Cardenes and Marwah Maqbool Malik for doing such a wonderful job in bringing order to the chaos. Comments from Greg Grimsich, Julia Wittig, Juan Chaves-Gonzalez, Felicity Le Quesne, Erin Coughlan de Perez and many others were invaluable. Many thanks also to Lisa Walmsley for the copy edits.

The paper was jointly commissioned by the Centre for Disaster Protection, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It was delivered in partnership with the Forecasts for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action (FATHUM) project led by the University of Reading.

The Centre for Disaster Protection is funded by UK aid. It finds better ways to stop disasters devastating lives and economies by supporting low and middle-income countries to better manage disaster risk and to deliver earlier, more cost-effective support for people when disasters occur. Informing global policy and helping to shape the way money is programmed for disasters across the global development and humanitarian system is one area of the Centre's work.

The Climate Centre supports the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its partners in reducing the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on vulnerable people. The Climate Centre works at the intersection of policy, practice and science to make the best global scientific insights operable at the local level.

OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. OCHA's mandate stems from General Assembly (GA) resolution 46/182 of December 1991, which states: "The leadership role of the SecretaryGeneral is critical and must be strengthened to ensure better preparation for, as well as rapid and coherent response to, natural disasters and other emergencies".

FATHUM is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)/UK Department for International Development (DFID) project funded under the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience (SHEAR) research programme. FATHUM researchers are linking together research on forecast predictability and skill, complex drivers of risk, multi-actor perspectives on successful implementation and financing mechanisms to catalyse and facilitate the scale-up of Forecast-based Financing (FbF) for effective, appropriate and impactful action before a disaster.

This paper represents the views of its author and not necessarily of the commissioning organisations. It is a draft version that is being circulated for comment prior to final publication. The content of this paper should not be taken as final and constructive comments are welcome to the following email address. For more information, email info@.

Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action 3

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

02

Acronyms and abbreviations

04

Introduction

05

Methods

07

Thesaurus structure

08

Thesaurus

09

Anticipation

09

Preparedness

13

Forecast

16

Forecast-based F(f)inancing/F(f)orecast-based Action

19

Early warning system(s)

25

Early action

27

Early response

31

Analysis: Language use in a complex continuum

32

References

36

Annex: A field guide to getting lost

38

4 Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

DRRDisaster risk reduction EAPEarly action protocol EWEAEarly Warning Early Action1 EWSEarly warning system(s) FAOFood and Agriculture Organization FbAForecast-based Action2 FbEA Forecast-based early action3 FbFForecast-based Financing4 FFOFederal Foreign Office (Germany) GRCGerman Red Cross GFDRRGlobal Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery IASCInter-Agency Standing Committee IFRCInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies OCHA(United Nations) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ODIOverseas Development Institute SOPStandard operating procedure UNISDRUnited Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction WFPWorld Food Programme

1 Upper case when referring to an organisationspecific mechanism; lower case as a generic term.

2 Upper case when referring to an organisationspecific mechanism; lower case as a generic term.

3 In this document FbEA is distinguished from the organisation-specific FbF and/FbA.

4 Upper case when referring to an organisationspecific mechanism; lower case as a generic term.

Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action 5

INTRODUCTION

What we need to do is to move from today's approach, where we watch disaster and tragedy build, gradually decide to respond and then mobilize money and organizations to help; to an anticipatory approach where we plan in advance for the next crises, putting the response plans and the money for them in place before they arrive, and releasing the money and mobilizing the response agencies as soon as they are needed. Does that sound like rocket science?

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Sir Mark Lowcock5

The recent shift in humanitarianism from thinking in terms of response to anticipatory action has not only great intuitive appeal but there is also growing consensus on the value of acting early in terms of both cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, it is widely agreed that the unprecedented availability of risk and forecasting information comes with a great responsibility and it is no longer acceptable to wait for hazards to drive communities into crises before acting.

As a new way of thinking and acting, this innovative approach comes with a new parlance and vocabulary. While the promise and practice of `anticipation' and `early action' is gaining momentum and might not sound like rocket science, a glance at the proliferation of new concepts--blended with old terms (see Annex: A field guide to getting lost) --is testament to the need for developing a shared understanding of how language is being used. Words are important: how they are chosen and the meanings they convey help to define assumptions and objectives, policies, programmes and interventions in relation to crises.

This thesaurus is intended to enable reflection on the similarities and differences in the way organizations use language associated with the concept of anticipatory humanitarian action. Its purpose is not to define terms but to facilitate mutual understanding and, thus, coordination and collaboration across the multitude of organizations operating in this space. This thesaurus is the result of an inter-institutional commitment between the UN Office for the

5 Lowcock, M. (2018). A Casement Lecture: A Collective Call Towards Innovation in Humanitarian Financing. Dublin.

6 Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Centre for Disaster Protection, Forecasts for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action (FATHUM) and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.6

The anticipatory humanitarian agenda is a new story that we tell about how to reduce or mitigate human suffering faster and more effectively. The basic paradigm shift is a move away from acting based on existing human needs (or suffering) to acting based on risk (and thus expected needs), which is underpinned by an informed idea of what the future might hold. A new way of thinking about temporality does not only go hand in hand with a new language but suggests a move towards new operational parameters for humanitarianism. This thesaurus intends to illuminate this trajectory by helping to address fundamental questions such as "What is the new narrative, and what is it that we are talking about and what we are not talking about, and what does that entail for our programming and finances?" (Donor interviewee).

As the etymology `treasury' or `storehouse' of knowledge captures, a thesaurus is not intended to be prescriptive but descriptive.7 It is inevitable--and often desirable--to have different approaches in any policy-making world. Therefore, this treasury of knowledge does not seek to impose uniformity but to serve as a tool to facilitate mutual understanding and to serve as a reference for day-to-day use to improve the policy debate on anticipatory action. The objective was to pull together the emerging vocabulary we use to raise more awareness of current concepts and approaches, clarify misinterpretation and confusion, and make everyone feel more comfortable in talking to each other and exploring the possibilities of anticipatory humanitarian action--together. Ultimately, the purpose of coordinating language better is to optimise and find the best response in any situation and overcoming unnecessary divides. Language is like water, fluid and changing continuously. This thesaurus is therefore only a beginning, a first attempt at a living tool to help open up, sharpen and navigate the dialogue.

6 The need for shared language and idea to develop some type of reference tool on anticipatory action was discussed at the Early Action Focus Task Force Technical Meeting during the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW) in Geneva (6 February 2019). OCHA, the Centre for Disaster Protection and the Climate Centre announced their commitment to take up the challenge

of developing a thesaurus during the 'From Reaction to Anticipation' workshop, co-convened by OCHA, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the Climate Centre later that month.

7 Etymology' is the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning. The word `thesaurus' derives from the Greek word th?sauros, which means a storehouse of precious items, or a treasure.

Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action 7

Developing this thesaurus has revealed that there is a great measure of consensus, especially on the ideological commitments and values related to anticipation as a general approach--hence the title, Getting Ahead of Crises. However, it has also brought some fundamental dilemmas, tensions, contradictions, confusion and vagueness to the fore; and questions that lie beyond the scope of this thesaurus where more exploration, learning and debating remain necessary. A brief analysis of the grey areas that remain unresolved accompanies this thesaurus as an invitation for further research and debate.

Methods

The 10 key words/terms included in this thesaurus--anticipation; preparedness; forecast; F(f)orecast-based F(f)inancing (FbF)/F(f)orecast-based A(a)ction; (FbA)/forecast-based early action (FbEA); early warning system(s) (EWS)/early warning early action (EWEA) ; early action; and early response--were selected collaboratively.8 The associated observations and reflections are based on: an extensive literature review of key policy documents and terms (see References and/Annex); an analysis of speech acts, presentations and discussions; informal talks with key actors; and participant observation during expert meetings and global platforms. In addition, 25 semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with humanitarians, risk analysts, scientists, donors, project managers and disaster risk managers.

In order to preserve confidentiality, interviewees remain anonymous and have been attributed very broad types of job function such as humanitarian (this might mean a desk officer who develops project proposals, a communication officer or a risk advisor, for example), NGO worker, expert (e.g. in a specific mechanism like FbF/EWEA/disaster risk), practitioner (working closely with local communities), scientist (hydro-meteorologist/hydrologist/meteorologist/ forecast verification analyst/climate scientists) or donor. These are not such bounded or clear-cut categories: scientists might work for humanitarian organizations and donors might be considered humanitarians, for instance. It is also important to keep in mind that categories are much more heterogeneous than the comprehensive terms `scientist' or `humanitarian' allow.

8 There are ten words or terms and seven entries: it was not possible to distinguish some of the concepts and in these instances, words/terms share the same entry.

8 Getting Aahead of Crises: A Thesaurus for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

Thesaurus structure

The thesaurus entries are generally structured as follows: ? main usage and definitions--`officially' proposed definitions taken

from organizational/inter-institutional policy documents and glossaries (sometimes inter-institutional) ? synonyms and terms used interchangeably ? related words ? near or total antonyms ? grey areas ? specialized terms ? useful references and resources.9 Quotes from different stakeholders bring nuance, confusions, grey areas and complexity to the fore. This attests to the fluidity and multiple usage of language and the discrepancies that can exist between words as `carved in stone' and the messy reality of decision-making.

9 All entries have a main usage and definitions section and a synonyms section. Not all have the other sections.

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